Haynes King, starting quarterback for seventh-ranked Texas A&M Aggies, will be out indefinitely with a fractured leg, coach Jimbo Fisher confirmed during his Monday press conference. King sustained the injury during the first half of the Aggies’ 10-7 win over Colorado in Week 2. The redshirt freshman reportedly underwent surgery on Sunday.
“When you heal you heal,” Fisher said. We will never play him before that.”
The injury occurred while King was evading pressure and thrown down by a Colorado defender. He hobbled to the sideline and went into the locker room, later emerging on crutches and wearing a walking boot. ESPN reported Monday that King’s injury could sideline him until mid-October.
Sophomore Zach Calzada came in for King and completed 18-of-38 passes for 207 yards and one touchdown, and added 29 yards on the ground. Calzada, who lost the offseason quarterback competition to King, connected with running back Isaiah Spiller out of the backfield for an 18-yard score with 2:41 left to escape with the win and keep the Aggies’ national title hopes alive.
A&M will host New Mexico this weekend, which will be a good chance for coach Jimbo Fisher to get a grasp of what Calzada can do after receiving first-team snaps for a full week of practice. After that, though, things could get sketchy.
The Aggies will square off against No. 20 Arkansas on Sept. 25 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, for the SEC on CBS Game of the Week. As seen in a 40-21 thrashing of Texas over the weekend, Arkansas is not only capable of running the rock, but doing so at such an elite level that it can limit the possessions of the opposing offense. Simply put, A&M can’t afford many empty possessions from Calzada and Co. against the Razorbacks. Otherwise, those national title hopes could fall by the wayside.
Top-ranked Alabama will then roll into Kyle Field on Oct. 9 in what could be a decisive game in the SEC West race. King’s absence through “at least mid-October” is vague, perhaps on purpose. Regardless of whether King is available, it’s not exactly reassuring for the the starting quarterback of a top-10 team to be listed as questionable for what might be the most important SEC game of the regular season.
It’s not the worst-case scenario for the Aggies, but it’s pretty darn close. Fisher’s team just missed last season’s College Football Playoff field, and expectations were high in Aggieland heading into the season.
